The 2022 Heart of England kicked off with a steady start for the Harriers, with an overall 5th place indicating there will be work to do, especially with the home match in Mid-June at Kettering if the Harriers are to retain their Div1 status. The main issue especially for a club the size of Kettering is to ensure all events ‘A’ & ‘B’ are filled to prevent point haemorrhaging, and this is something that will be the focus for the upcoming events.
The event was held in beautiful conditions with warm spring sunshine, but sadly there were ongoing delays to the running programme which mean the cancelling of the relays due to a 1 hour 40 mins delay, which caused additional issues for the athletes preparing for their events.
Middle Distance Events
Despite these setbacks and the overall modest finishing place, there were some outstanding performances on the day, with two maximum points hauls in both the A & B races for the U13G 800m & the U17/U20M 800m.
In the U13G 800m Jess Lamb set off in a determined fashion totally dominating the race from start to finish, to record a brilliant season opening time of 2:28.49 to sit in the UK top 15, and clearly there will be more to come for the top year U13. Finishing in second place, and winning the ‘B’ race, Bottom year U13 Tiggy Guthrie-Brown also ran a superb race to finish in a season opening 2:38.72. Also gaining good points in the 800m was U15 Chelsie Locker with a second place in the ‘A’ race, matched by older sibling U20- Demi Locker who also finished 2nd in the ‘A’ race with 2:21.04.
Jess Lamb dominanat display of front running in the U13G 800m
The U17/U20M also earned maximum points with a terrific win in the ‘A’ race for Lucas Rogers, who also took out the race from the start to finish in a new 10 second PB with 2:04.44. Ben Brooker won the ‘B’ race with ease, to win by almost 100m in 2:02.93 and match his season opener set 2 week earlier.
Lucas Rogers fine win and a a 10 second PB in the U17/U20M 800m
Other events giving a good point return were the U13B 1500m, with Harlee Hooker slicing 8 seconds off his PB to finish second in the ‘A’ race in 5:08.72, closing down the leader all the way to the line. Rafferty Davey won the ‘B’ race with ease to smash is PB by 12 seconds with a fine run in 5:10.79. There was further success over 1500m with Bottom year U15 Zachary Scott dipping below 5:00 mins for the first time with a 7 second PB to finish in second place in the ‘B’ race with 4:58.1. U15 Evie Brooker won the U15G ‘B’ race with ease with a fine run in 5:27.62.
Rafferty Davey won the U13B 1500m 'B' race in a fine new PB
The Longer sprints also produced some excellent wins with Alice Bennett complete blowing away the competition in the U17 300m with 41.5, a 2 second PB, with Lara Turner also running a fine race to finish second in the ‘B’ race in 44.00. In the U15’s 300m Jemima Davey secured a win with her first ever 300m with 44.40 while Maggie Gancheva finished 2nd in the ‘A’ race with a new PB in 44.70. The U17/U20M also secured good point in the 400m, with Dylan White making his debut in the event won the ‘B’ race with 54.5.
Dylan White making his 400m debut with a fine win in the 'B' race
In the U17/U20 sprints, Jasmine Anderson & Sonal Rathod both finished in second place with Anderson setting a 13.6 in the ‘A’ race & Rathod 13.9 in the ‘B’ race. In the 200m William Rawcliffe also bagged a fine 2nd place in the U17/U20M ‘B’ race in 24.39.
In the U11 AG Sophie Burns returned good points with a fine win in the ‘A’ 75m race in 11.4, and also a 2nd place in the ‘B’ 600m with a new PB of 2:03.90, in a race where Bella Lamb went under 2:00 mins for the first time to with the ‘A’ race in a 6 second PB of 1:58.24.
Bella Lamb with a first sub 2:00 600m clocking winning the 'A' race
Sprint Events
Unprecedented delays in the timetable, and faulty automatic timing, made for a challenging day for all athletes on the day. There were, however, some creditable performances from the squad.
Athletes in the U11 age group competed in the 75m event. In the boys race, Keaton Spruce ran a PB of 12.6 seconds to finish 6th, while in the girls race Sophie Burnes won her race in a PB of 11.4 seconds. In the girls B race, Darci Cleaver finished 3rd in a PB of 12.4 seconds.
Sophie Burnes - on her way to her 75m win
The U13 age group competed over 100m and 200m. Aidan Hooks was the only boy representing the club on the day in this age group. He finished 6th in both of his races & produced PBs’ in both events - 14.6 seconds in the 100m, and 30.94 seconds in the 200m. He also competed in the long jump on the day, finishing 4th with another PB of 4.20 metres. Sabina Lawton and Billi Robinson competed in the girls events. In the A race, Sabina finished 8th in a PB of 15.05 seconds, while in the B race, Billi also ran a PB of 15.08 seconds. In the 200m, Billi, running in the A race, finished 6th in 32.30 seconds, while Sabina finished in 4th place in a PB of 32.02 seconds. Earlier in the day, Billi also competed in the high jump in which she finished 3rd in a PB of 1.30 metres. Also competing in the high jump, Sophie Panther jumped a PB of 1.15 metres to finish 3rd in the B event. In the B long jump, Matilda Abbott produced a PB jump of 3.00 metres to finish 5th.
U15 boys, Zane Cooper and Adam Bolsom competed in the 100m. Zane, competing in the A race, finished 5th in 13.5 seconds, while Adam, in his first meeting competing for the club, also finished 5th in a PB of 13.7 seconds. Adam went on to produce another PB of 28.97 seconds in the 200m. Lulu Mowforth was the only U15 girl competing in the sprints on the day, and finished 7th in her race in 14.9 seconds.
The last age group to compete were the combined team of U17 and U20 athletes. In the men’s 100m, U20 athlete, Max Mowforth finished 5th in the A race in a time of 11.8 seconds, while U17, William Rawcliffe lowered his PB in the B race with a time of 12.2 seconds to finish 4th. William went on to produce another PB in his 200m B race, finishing 2nd in a time of 24.39 seconds. Competing in the A race was U20, Jack Abbott, who finished 5th in 25.54 seconds.
William Rawcliffe - set two personal bests
The women competing in the sprints in this age group were all U17. First up on the 100m were Jasmine Anderson and Sonal Rathod. Both finished in 2nd position in their races in times of 13.6 and 13.9 respectively. Jasmine also competed in the 200m A 200m, recording a time of 28.30 seconds, finishing in 4th position. Also competing in the 200m was Elizabeth Reading in the B race. She won her race comfortably in a time of 27.54 seconds.
U17 Ellie Warboys, and U20, Scarlett Maxwell-Munn, competed in the long jump, finishing 6th and 4th respectively with jumps of 3.90 and 3.60 metres. Ellie also competed in the high jump earlier in the day with Elizabeth Reading. Both athletes finished 3rd in the event and produced personal best jumps of 1.40 metres.
Well done to everyone who competed on the day.
The Harriers now enjoyed a short 2 day break before many were competing at the Kettering Spring May Day Bank Holiday open!